Must admit, highlight of the holiday season is always the Christmas Cards! They make me so happy… in fact a couple of days ago, I took all my trees and decorations down but haven’t been able to bring myself to take down the cards! Love them! I love seeing the photos of families we have met along our way, seeing the smiling faces of some of our oldest and dearest friends, and catching up just a little! Everyone that comes to my house also enjoys looking at the cards…and asking who is who, and how we know people. It’s just a delight! This year I had so much fun planning and making my family’s card! I just wanted to show you what I did…and how I used my phone to make it happen! If you are like me, you don’t wander too far from your phone, and use it for everything! Who knew that I’d be using my phone to make my card!

The best part of a Christmas card is the photo… and I like the photo when it’s the whole family! What is up with the people that think that they don’t have to be in the photo w/ their kids? I like to see everyone!! So… I was stressed cause I didn’t really have a current family photo, and time and energy was short to try to make one happen! I was contemplating a photo collage instead of a group shot, which is still super cute. I decided to at least try for a photo- I didn’t want to go to the expense of new clothes, or the effort of haircuts or even hair at all… so, I opted for an outside shot and just put everyone in their coats and hats. I did pick up a couple hats (that we needed anyway) and I think that Colton scored a new sweatshirt as well…I called my sister, and she came over and we pulled over off the side of the road in a field by our house. I gave her my phone, and had to snap away. If there would have been a video, you would have heard my oldest 2 boys arguing everything, “why do we have to do this”, “this is so dumb”, “why do you send out Christmas cards anyway”, “ I am not standing by Quincy”, “ok, 5 pictures that is all” etc, etc, etc. I mean- c’mon, it was torture! I did have a vision of what I wanted the photos to look like and the outcome wasn’t really what I hoped for, but it worked!

Once I had about 40 images on my phone, I got home and sat on the couch and put my favorite images though my ‘PictureShow’ app. And then dropped them into my photoshop file for the card.

you can't believe what a difference it made to do these simple little photo editing actions... this is before, and it was super cute... could have been a usable image- no one crying!

As you know, I love to print at Staples- the quality is great, and they take the time to figure out even tricky print jobs.

My card was 2 pieces, it was a sleeve with a photo tag inside that was double sided.

First I designed the cover to fold over and have an opening for the photos to show through. I wanted it to be double sided, and so I had to play around with the dimensions. This is what it looked like once it was printed. I used the papers and elements from the 12 days of Christmas Collection.. and did a little ‘re-coloring’. i cut the existing family photo out to make a window:

For the inside tag, I designed it so that there were 3 tags on each printed page, and set it up so that the front and back would be lined up perfectly! When they were printed, I just had to trim the edges, and then cut each piece apart. It was easy!

This is the front:

This is the back:

I printed the cover on letter weight pearlized paper, and the inside tags on 110 lb. white cardstock- so the sheens were a little different, and so it looked cool on that shiny paper! i did mess up my design a little -- and only noticed after it was printed- but i had to let it go... :)

… no matter what you do, or how you do it… the people you love LOVE to hear from you and remember you! PLAN to send out a card next year! Plan to learn a new skill… learn to use photoshop or photoshop elements! Get your kids/family involved or even work with a friend or family member to take photos, create the card… have a card addressing night! I’d hate to see the Christmas card tradition to fade away!

Welcome 2012! It’s here… it’s shocking- I was thinking back on the entry of 2011, and even 2010… and I can only imagine that a year from now will not go by any slower! So really, you have to just LIVE it up! You have to make the most of everyday! New Years Eve is tricky- don’t you think? Like… do you have a great party? Hope to get invited to a great party? Plan something low-key cause you don’t think you are going to go to a great party- OR, resign yourself to the fact that it’s harder to get the kids arranged and you should just ‘join em’! we added my 2 nephews to our crew (my brother and sister have way more party potential that we do!) Our local ‘rec center’ was having a NYE party, and it looked pretty awesome… on the line up:

Clowns

Carnival Games

Bounce Houses

Video games

Swimming

A magician and a hypnotist

As well as a big countdown to midnight

I have to hand it to the organizers- b/c it’s a huge undertaking to pull off a great party, especially for the public, and kids of all ages! I though it was a hit! We had a really fun time, and the kids were totally entertained and excited the whole time. it was the first time I been there swimming, and the facility is gorgeous- especially the pool. Fabulous! The slide in the kiddy area was holy-cow-fast and so that kept my crew happy!

I LOVE the NEW YEAR! I am ready, and excited and willing to make some changes and make sure that 2012 will be one to remember. Something tells me, it will be! huge thanks to the folks at the Herriman Rec Center- you did awesome! not sure how many more years that my kids will want to hang out with me on NYE! better make the most of it while they do, (or have no choice!)